Simple money saving ideas. (Saving tips)

Member Name: Autarkis

Product:	Saving tips
Date:	01/11/08 (231 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Spend less.

Disadvantages: None I can think of.

Here is a collection of different money saving ideas and tips for you to use in your everyday life. I'm sure most of these ideas are already used by most, but you never know you may find something helpful here.

Unplug unused electrical equipment before you go to bed, this saves electricity. Don't leave things on stand by, as this still uses electricity. Always unplug things after use.

Turn off lights when leaving a room, unless you plan on going in and out of the room several times in a short space of time.

Don't over fill your kettle when you only need a small amount of water, only boil the amount of water that you need.

Use natural cleaning products - that can be found in your food cupboard (see my other review on cleaning for tips on this) to save a lot of money on cleaning products, not only is this better for the environment, it is better for your health, and will save you a lot of money.

Hand soap dispensers, these are usually expensive, as you are also paying for the convenience of the soap pump, even the refills are not that much cheaper. When the soap has run out instead of buying another bottle, just buy a large bottle of bubble bath and use this to refill your soap dispenser, all soaps clean the same.

Don't throw away containers from food packaging; these can all be re - used in some way. Jars and ice cream and butter tubs, when washed in hot soapy water they can be used to store all different things, you can also use these to store opened packets of food to retain the freshness.
Jars can be used to collect loose change, or made into a stationary holder for your desk.
You can use them for paint pots.
Uses for containers - To store opened baby wipes to retain the moisture to stop them from drying out before you get to the end of the pack.
There are many uses for these, and this will save you buying plastic containers.

If you haven't already change all your light bulbs to energy saving light bulbs, these not only save on electricity, they last a lot longer! And they are better for the environment too.

When shopping buy cheaper brands, a lot of products are very similar; you are mostly paying for the packaging. Try buying everything at a lower brand to see if you can notice the difference, if not then stick with the cheaper brand. Most good food stores have a good selection of own brands.
Some things, you will notice the difference with, such as own brand bread, this is one thing I avoid, if you notice a big difference with anything then you may want to stick to slightly more expensive brands on certain things.

Time your shopping right, going to the supermarket at night, you will find a lot of fresh produce is greatly reduced, items such as fresh bread and cakes, fruit and Veg. fish and meats, a lot of which can be frozen and eaten through the week. Also Sunday near closing time my local supermarket reduces a lot of fresh produce and food with short dates, as long as you don't mind shopping when it is hectic.

Keep your freezer well stocked up, a full freezer costs less to run as its not cooling empty spaces. However if you can't fill your freezer then place empty cardboard boxes into the empty spaces in the freezer as this will do the same job.

In the winter when you have your heating on, keep doors in the house closed, a room will heat up faster and will retain the heat with the door shut, instead of trying to heat a larger space.

Instead of buying expensive medicine brands buy the cheaper ones, most painkillers have the same ingredients and work the same. Also only use them when necessary if you can cure a headache or other minor complaint using a natural remedy. Maybe a cold flannel over your forehead will help to soothe a headache or get someone to give you a massage, or even self massage works. For stomach cramps try using a hot water bottle.

Wash your clothes at a lower temperature; to save money and help the environment, your clothes will still be as clean. I think everyone knows this one - but are you actually washing at lower temperatures? I know I could still wash at a lower temperature!

Shop online to compare prices, and when you have found the cheapest place to buy what you are looking for. Sites like pricerunner.co.uk are fast ways to find the cheapest price. However when possible go to the shop to buy the item you want, instead of paying for the delivery charge.

Try not to eat out for lunch everyday, if you imagine the price of a Boot's meal deal is £2.99 a day after working for 5 days this would be £14.95 and for the year this would be £777.40. Now try this yourself with a Burger King or Macdonald's Meal which would cost more than this. Instead try to take a packed lunch to work with you more often as this will soon become much more cost effective and healthier more you.

Smoking - I know it sounds like I'm preaching but if you smoke you are spending more than you realize, try putting the same amount of money you spend on cigarettes in to a jar each time you do for a week/month. Once the week/month is over count up how much you have and see what else you could of spend that money on. I am against smoking myself however it is personal choice as to weather you do or not.

Going out at the weekend? - Only take the amount of money that you want to spend, this way when your money has run out you can't be tempted to buy more drinks.
Also a good tip is to never take your debit or credit cards with you as taking these can not only lead you to spend more but also running the risk of them becoming lost or stolen.
Also try to limit the amount of alcohol you consume, only having this once or twice a week will not only save your money, but will improve your health.

Instead of renting movies from place like Blockbusters try borrowing and swapping films with family and friends.

Keep a jar or bottle for loose change (I remember my Nan always used to have a couple of the giant sized whiskey bottles which always seemed to be full); you will be surprised how much you have when it's full.

An obvious way to save money would be to leave the car at home when you could easily walk to where you need to get to. I know people who use the car to go to the local shop. Also when the weather is good try walking your children to school if its not too far, it will save you time looking for a parking space.

Swap as many of your bills over to direct debit payments not only will this save you the time of having to go to your bank or building society every what seems like 5 minutes to pay a bill. Also most companies will offer a reduction in payment for using the service as it effectively cost them less. Some companies like BT will go one further and offer reductions to your bill for you going paperless, in other words you don't receive a bill through the door, unfortunately you will still get one via your online account though.

Save money off coupons, and use them when you do your weekly shop. These can be found in magazines, newspapers, and don't forget to check your junk mail, as you can sometimes find money off coupons or codes. Also if you have a baby joining up to all the baby clubs, they send out freebies and money off coupons at different stages of your babies life.

Save old Christmas cards and use the pictures off of them to make your own gift tags for next Christmas.

Buy secondhand versions of items you want when appropriate, EBay and Amazon are great places for picking up what you want for less. Check out my other reviews for information on these:-

EBay.co.uk
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/auctions/ebay-co-uk/11418 25

Amazon.co.uk
http://www.dooyoo.co.uk/online-shops/amazon-co-uk /1142353

Ways to earn yourself a little extra money:

Don't throw out your unwanted items, you will be surprised at how much you could get from selling what you consider to be junk, there are many places such as EBay and Amazon where you can sell all manor of things. Car boot sales also provide an excellent way of getting rid of old items you no longer require, however do remember you are not as likely to get as much for your items at a car boot as you would on some of the online sales sites.

After you have finished any computer games you can always take them into places like CEX or Gamestation who would be able to trade in your old game/s for either cash or against other items in the store and remember both of these places also sell secondhand games also so check through them first to see if that game you want is cheaper secondhand. Make sure that prior to trading your games in you visit CEX's trade in price website as they generally give the best trade in prices print off the game price that you wish to trade in and take it with you to Gamestation who operate a price beat promise on their trade in prices, if you have a number of games though trade them in separately as their price beat comes in the form of £1 extra on top of the total trade in value so if you trade in 10 games together you get £1 extra but if you trade in the same 10 games separately that would be £10 extra.

If you have a huge stack of old CDs that are not worth much you could try selling these to a site called MusicMagpie just enter the barcodes of your CD's in on the site and it will automatically tell you how much they are worth and what you need to do when you do want to sell to them. Don't worry about postage prices as they arrange free post for any items they purchase from you.
www.musicmagpie.co.uk

There is also a version of this site for computer games as well
www.gamemagpie.co.uk

Summary: Ways to reduce your spending.